Ex-church choir leader accused of sex abuse

Ex-church choir leader arrested amid sex allegations

Published 5:30 am, Friday, May 13, 2005

The Catholic Church is wrestling with another sex abuse scandal involving a former choir director at one of its parishes in Houston.

Police this week arrested German Rojas Moreno, 43, a former parishioner and choir director at St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church at 8200 Roos in southwest Houston.

Moreno, of the 9200 block of Burdine, is charged with two counts of indecency with a child, two counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, Houston police said. He is accused of molesting five teenage boys between 1997 and 2001, whose families he befriended at the church, investigators said.

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He was released from the Harris County Jail after posting bonds totaling $60,000.

None of the alleged assaults happened at the church, where Moreno was a paid employee while working there as choir director, said Investigator Michelle Gallagher of the Houston Police Department Juvenile Sex Crimes unit. Police aren't sure how long Moreno served in that capacity.

However, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston says that Moreno was never a paid employee and was only with the choir on a volunteer basis.

``There was never a check cut for this man. He was not on the payroll,'' said archdiocese spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor.

Church officials told police Moreno left the parish about a year ago after he had a falling out with the new choir director, Gallagher said.

The investigation began just last month when the five victims, who are now adults, told police they had been sexually abused by Moreno.

Three of the victims are brothers from one family, while the other two are brothers from another family, Gallagher said.

The victims said they were between 11 and 15 years old when the assaults occurred. They alleged they were drugged and sexually assaulted while spending the night at Moreno's various residences after Moreno befriended their families and gained their parents' trust, police said.

During the visits to Moreno's homes, the victims were given white pills they were told were vitamins. Police believe those pills were really Xanax, Gallagher said. The victims said the sexual assaults occurred while they were passed out from the medication.

At the time of the alleged incidents, the families were undocumented immigrants and were of low-income status, Gallagher said. Moreno, who is single and has no children, was able to lure the teens to his homes because he had a large-screen TV and video games, police said.

Police also believe Moreno, who is one of the owners of the Dynamic Healthcare Center at 6006 Bellaire Blvd., was practicing medicine without a license and provided medical care to the boys there, Gallagher said. One of the sexual assaults is alleged to have occurred at that clinic, she said.

After the alleged assaults, Moreno remained close friends with the two families, even paying for part of the victims' college educations, Gallagher said.

Moreno was arrested around noon Wednesday at the clinic and admitted to the police that he was close to the two families. But he denied abusing anyone, Gallagher said.

Taylor said neither the church or archdiocese were ever notified of any alleged wrongdoing by Moreno before Houston police alerted them today of his arrest.

Officers close to the case confirmed that the victims and their families went straight to the police and never reported the sexual abuse allegations to the church or archdiocese.

Police believe there are more victims who have not yet come forward because they are embarrassed or perhaps reluctant to talk to officers due to their immigration status.

But investigators stressed Friday that victims and their families should not worry about those matters. Police said they will do everything possible to protect victims' privacy by keeping their names anonymous. Investigators said they don't care if victims or their families are in the country illegally.

Archdiocese officials could not immediately say how long Moreno had been active with the choir, but they maintain he was part of the Spanish choir, which did not include any children.

Anyone who has been victimized by Moreno is urged to call Gallagher at the HPD Juvenile Sex Crimes Unit at 713-731-5335.

Police said the church has cooperated with their investigation.

Moreno's arrest comes less than two months after another former choir director at another Catholic church in Houston was arrested on similar charges of sexually abusing children.

Stuart Alan Murphy, 57, a former choir director at Annunciation Catholic Church in downtown Houston, was arrested March 30 on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and four counts of indecency with a child.

The charges against Murphy stemmed from allegations made by two brothers in a conservative Catholic family that attended Annunciation, where Murphy also assisted with altar-boy services, detectives said.

Murphy, of the 400 block of Hutcheson, remains in the Harris County Jail.

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